Thursday, February 11, 2016

German political correctness

Here is a new word:
"Gutmensch," an overly politically correct person, has been named Germany's buzzword of the year 2015. The award pinpoints an awkward or controversial term that has shaped public discourse. ...

"Gutmensch" was selected because, in connection with the current refugee crisis in Germany, it defames "tolerance and helpfulness as naïve, dumb and worldly innocent, as having a helper syndrome or as moral imperialism," the jury president, linguist Nina Janich, told the press. ...

Last year's non-word of the year was "Lügenpresse," or "liar press." The expression was popular at the time among supporters of the German anti-Islamization movement "Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West," or PEGIDA.

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